


Caught in the storm

by A_wandering_mind



Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, prompt, some sort of proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-25 23:33:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13845369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_wandering_mind/pseuds/A_wandering_mind
Summary: Alistair wants to spend quality time alone with his love Avaena, and the fresh snow is the perfect excuse for a romantic walk.





	Caught in the storm

At first it seemed a good idea. He used the excuse to look for firewood for the camp since Avaena had never seen the snow. Alistair was happy to take a walk alone with her, the light sleet that was coming down was simply perfect and incredibly  _in the right mood_.

The sleet, however, had first turned into a heavy snowfall and then into a storm. Alistair’s romantic plans were then further ruined by an unexpected fight with a small group of dark spawn, in which Avaena had lost her fur mantle, that has dissolved into ashes after the contact with a ball of fire.

They were alone, they didn’t see one inch straight in front of them, they were tired and didn’t know how to go back without her dying of hypothermia. They had managed to hide in a small cave, but with no fire and food the hopes of surviving more than a few hours were scarce.

Avaena, before losing her strength, had managed to send a signal, a lightning spell that Morrigan or Wynne could have seen and interpreted over the clouds.

Alistair had wrapped her in his cloak, hugging her, in the hope to keep her warm. “I’m sorry, Ven, it’s all my fault.”

She hugged him, even if his armour was in her way, smiling. “It’s not your fault, you couldn’t know that a storm was coming, I …” She didn’t managed to finish the sentence: she was trembling too loud to speak.

Alistair was alarmed, took her face in his hands, kissed her gently on the forehead and began to lull her. He had to do something if he wanted to survive. He felt like a horrible person who had endangered the person he loved only because he wanted to be alone with her, like an idiot teenager. He didn’t know how to fix things, he didn’t know how to bring her alive and well out of there, and these thoughts terrified him.

Suddenly he had an idea. He loosened his cloak and completely enveloped Avaena with it. With a little effort he got to his feet and began to undo his armor, under her half dropped gaze. When he had removed the reinforcements of legs, chest and arms, he placed them on the ground, trying to give them the vague shape of a bed. He had begun to shake too, the pungent cold seemed to penetrate his bones like a thousand needles, but he continued to undress. When he had only the trousers and the shirt on, he leaned over Avaena and began to untie her dress.

At another time it would have been mortally embarrassing, but there was more than a mischievous ridicule at stake. She had her tunic removed without resistance and when she was left only with the petticoat he took her in his arms and laid her on the improvised bed he had built with the pieces of armor.

He embraced her from behind, doing the big spoon, covering themselves with the clothes they had taken off, and then wrapped both of them in his fur cloak, covering their heads too to stay warmer. He hugged her tightly and rested his chin between the hollows of the shoulder and neck.

“Get closer to me as much as possible, we’ll be able to stay warmer like this.” Avaena nodded and joined her body completely with his, squeezing his hands with a very little strength.

Alistair suddenly felt embarrassed. He knew they were in danger, half-naked, completely dispersed during a blizzard, with a chance of dying higher than usual. Yet the proximity with Avaena was not indifferent to him, and he knew how inconvenient it was and especially how  _embarassing_. He tried to move a little away from her hips, but as soon as he did, she approached him again.

A grimace came out from his mouth and he realized that probably he still had too much blood in circulation, considering where it had flowed. “It’s not a problem, Alistair.” Avaena said in a faint voice, turning slightly her face. “Don’t think, even for a moment, that your closeness can bother me or embarrass me.”

Alistair suppressed a chuckle. “As much as I appreciate the thought, surely I would like to think more about how to succeed in saving our lives rather than … well… _you know_ ”

She turned slightly towards him, placing a hand on his cheek, fingers still cold but no longer frozen as before. “You could have gone, you could have tried to save your own life, but you decided to stay here with me. I…I don’t know what would I do without you, if you had not always been there for me, since Ostagar.”

Her eyes were bright. Alistair stared at her, and unwillingly thought back to the last few months: the battles, her joining, the loss of Duncan, the king’s death. He stared at her green eyes and saw not only his loved one, but a person who was afraid of losing. He couldn’t imagine his life without her, no matter how short it would have been after becoming a grey warden. And he didn’t want to imagine a life without her by his side.

He swallowed hard, holding her to himself. “Avaena, would you marry me?” He cleared his throat, not sure how he could continue. “I know it’s not the right time, I certainly didn’t thought to ask you while we risk dying of hypothermia during a snow storm, but I don’t think there’ll ever be a perfect moment to ask. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, if you want ”

She jumped but immediately after remained motionless, with extreme terror of Alistair. She moved again after moments that seemed endless to him, and he realized she was sobbing. He put a hand on her shoulder to make her turn more towards him. She was visibly stiff from the cold and was crying, though she tried to wipe away the tears with her fingers. But her lips were inflected in what was undeniably a smile.

“I…” Suddenly the cloak beneath them moved and something fell directly on them. Avaena screamed and Alistair tried to stretch a hand to caught his sword, before realizing that  _the thing_  was licking him, yelping happily. Alistair thanked Andraste because the view of the mabari over him was the best thing he could have hoped for.

“I’m here with them!” Morrigan screamed, very near. Alistair saw her approached them, holding her cape with one gloved hand and, with an unkind gesture, she dodged the mabari and knelt. Her careful eyes immediately fell on Avaena, that was crying. Her expression were more than mad and she immediately pointed a finger at Alistair. “I hope you have a good explanation, you stupid dork, or I swear next time I will not wait a storm to kill you, I’ll do it  _personally_.”

Alistair had a retort read but Avaena laugh, and that eased the tension. She squeezed Alistair’s hand and looked him in the eyes. And her gaze gave him the answer he was waiting for.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the prompt "caught in a storm", it ended longer than I planned :) I apologize for mistakes and typo, english is not my first language :)


End file.
